Protecting your Data - Security Questions

SmartDebit needs to ensure that we are protecting you, the Customer, and your payers data.

Data Protection

The Data Protection Act exists to strike a balance between the rights of individuals to privacy and the ability of organizations to use data for the purposes of their business. The purpose of data protection legislation is to make sure that personal data is not processed without the knowledge of the individual. The Data Protection Act introduced basic rules of registration for data users and rights of access to that data for the individuals who it relates to.

Under the Data Protection Act, companies and organisations are obliged to take reasonable steps to confirm the identity of a telephone caller before proceeding with a call relating to a personal account or information.

The Data Protection Act controls how your personal information is used by organisations, businesses or the government.

Everyone responsible for using data has to follow strict rules called ‘data protection principles’. They must make sure the information is:

• used fairly and lawfully
• used for limited, specifically stated purposes
• used in a way that is adequate, relevant and not excessive
• accurate
• kept for no longer than is absolutely necessary
• handled according to people’s data protection rights
• kept safe and secure
• not transferred outside the European Economic Area without adequate protection

SmartDebit, therefore, needs to ensure that we are protecting you the Customer, and your payers data, and ensure that we are talking to the right person before taking action on your account. We will do this by asking a selection of the following questions:

• What is your SUN?
• What is the sort code of the account your funds are transferred into?
• What is the frequency of the DD collections? ie Monthly, weekly, yearly, quarterly?
• What date or dates do you collect your DDs?
• It may help to have these answers ready before making a call.